Indicator for multiple lock sets



Dec. 28, 1937. L, L, 'HAN EN 2,103,363

INDICATOR FOR MULTIPLE LOCK SETS Original Filed June 21, I954 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 LLHANSEN,

Dec. 28, 1937. HANSEN 2,103,363

INDICATOR FOR MULTIPLE LOCK SETS Original Filed June 21, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2' awe rm L,L.HANSEN,

Patented Dec. 28, 1937 UNITED. STATES PATENT OFFICE Divided and this application Januaryls, 1936, Serial No. 59,783

2 Claim.

This invention aims to provide an indicating means of a novel type, associated with multiple lock sets of the character of the lock sets shown in my co-pending application, Serial No. 731,767,

, 5 Automatic locks for multiple'closures, filed June 21, 1934, Patent Number 2,082,449, Locking meansfor multiple closures issued June 1, 1937,

of which this application is a division.

I am aware of the fact that it is not broadly 10 new to dispose signal lights in electric circuits for the purpose of indicating the mere completion of such circuit. However, as this description proceeds it'will be seen thatthe signal of the present invention goes materially beyond that 15 mere thought in that it is arranged to constitute what is in eifect a distress signal which causes the indicator to function, as for example to light a light, when one of the locks does not function,

- and this despite the fact that all of the other 2 locks may function and despite the further fact that the control key has been turned to a position which would normally cause all of the locks to function.

While an indicator adapted to function in this 25 noval way would be of general utility in conjunction with locks of many different kinds, I have, merely for purposes of explanation, illustrated the same in conjunction with the lock sets shown in my copending application aforesaid, and in 30 order that the reasons for providing a device of this character maybe clearly apparent, it is explained that in many existing types of automobiles it is necessary for the owner to separately lock or unlock each individual door.

This is troublesome and time-consuming, and it is highly desirable to provide an arrangement of parts by means of which the manipulation of a single key will automatically effect the desired results with respect to all of the doors.

40 In some devices recently proposed for the aca 50 of automobile door locks. For example, the locks used upon automobile doors, up until very recently, were so constructed that a thief, by applying a piece of pipe or other instrument to the door handle, could force the lock and open 65- the door. To meet that situation, the latest types of automobile locks are so constructed that the key in the act of locking the door merely shifts an operating member of the bolt out of operative relation with respect to the bolt, so that, even if the handle is entirely twisted off by a thief, the 5 door still remains locked;

The locks shown in the accompanying drawings are of the latter type. and my improved indicating means is incorporated therewith, such indicating means functioning to indicate only when one or more of the doors is not locked and at a time when, under the position of the manually operable key controlled lock, it should be locked. The manner of accomplishing this will be set forth in the detailed description which follows.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a side view illustrating a front and rear door of an automobile with the side panels of the doors removed to disclose the locking 2o mechanism therein;

Figure 2 is a digrammatic view illustrating one form of wiring which may be used;

Figure 3 is a detailed view illustrating the mechanism associated with the lock of the front or main door;

Figur 4 is a like view illustrating the mechasociated with one of the other, or auxiliary, doors;

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view upon line 55 of Figure 4, and

Figure 6 is a detail viewof the signal light housing hereinafter described.

It should be understood that the lock illustrated in the accompanying drawings constitutes no part of the invention. The lock represented is the look very largely used upon the 1934 model automobiles.

These locks comprise a base plate 5 upon which the main bolt 6 is slidably mounted. This bolt 40 is normally held in its projected position by a spring I. The tail of this spring bears against a lug 8 upon a rocking lever 9. The upper end of lever 9 is pivotally connected at ill to a pawl H, the free end of which is adapted to engage in a notch l2 of the bolt. The shank of the handle is indicated at l3 and in the normal operation of opening the door, turning of the handle thrusts the pawl II towards the left and the engagement of said pawl in the notch l2 acts to retract the bolt. When the door is to be locked, or in other words, when the handle is tobe disconnected from the bolt so that manipulation of the handle will no longer retract the bolt, a key which acts through shank it rocks an arm I the rear end of the notch l2, andthereafter manipulation of the handle while thrusting the pawl rearwardly will no longer retract the bolt.

The parts so far described are the conventional parts of existing locks. In the arrangement shown, I attach to arm M an angle plate I! that is insulated-from H at i6. An extension of said angle. plate moves between contact strips l1 and I8. These strips are insulated from each other at IS. The contact plate l5 in' all positions makes contact with the contact strip 20. Thus it will be seen that when the lever arm I4 is elevated, plate I5 will establish connection between strips l1 and 20, while when the arm I4 is in its lowermost positon, plate IE will establish contact between strips l8 and 20.

The structure just described is that which is associated, in the case of an automobile, with the right-hand front door, or the door that is ordinarily key-controlled. The remaining doors of the automoble have the same type of lock mechanism in so far as the bolts, pawls and operating handles are concerned, and the same. reference characters have been applied.

In the particular embodiment shown, I apply to each of the remaining doors a pair of electromagnets 2| and 22. See Figs. 4 and 5. An armature 23 is disposed to be attracted by these magnets and is in the form of a bell crank lever that is pivoted at 24 and insulated from the base plate 5 of the look, as indicated at 25. This lever carries shoe 26 which, when the lower magnet is energized, is thrust laterally or towards the base plate 5 so that it overlies or projects into the notch l2 of the corresponding bolt. The result is that if the door handle be manipulated at this time, and its pawl ll be thrust rearwardly in the usual way, the free end of said pawl merely rides up over the shoe and does not engage the shoulder of the notch.

This action takes place with respect to all of the doors, the magnets of which are connected and are energized as described, and thus it will be clear that the completion of a circuit at the right-hand front door, which will hereinafter be referred to as the master door, serves to look all of the remaining doors by rendering their operating handles inoperative with respect to the bolts of said doors. The vertical arm 21 of the armature moves between contact strips 28 and 29 and makes contact with one or the other of them, according to which of the magnets 2| or 22 is energized.

Referring now to the diagrammatic Fig. 2, B indicates a battery or other source of electric current, the negative side of which is grounded at G. From the positive side a conductor 30 leads to the contact strip l8. A branch .conductor 3| leads to one side of an electric light'bulb 32, constituting the signal which is energized when one or more or the doors have not been locked at a time when the key has been manipulated to lock them.

The other side of the light bulb is connected by conductor 33 to contact strip 29. This contact strip is also connected by a conductor 34 through the lowermost magnet 22 of oneof the doors and thence through a conductor 35 back to conductor 30. A branch conductor 36 leads from the conductor 35 through the lowermost magnet 22 of another door and thence through conductor 31 to the corresponding contact strip 29 of the same door. A branch conductor 38 connects conductors 31 and 33. The contact strips 28 in the case of each door, are connected through conductors 28a to one side of the uppermost magnets 2|, the

other sides of said magnets being grounded as indicated at 39. It now the operator, through the use of a key at the master-door, shifts plate I 5 to contact strip I, the circuit will be completed I as follows:

From ground 40, contact strip ll through plate 20, conductor 4|, arm 21, of the armature, contact strip 29, conductor 34, magnet 22, conductor 35, conductor 36 and battery B and back to ground G. This results in energizing lowermost magnet 22 to move arm 21 of the armature to the left for the purpose hereinbefore described, viz: to move shoe 26 to a position to hold the pawl out of action and prevent operation of the bolt of the corresponding door. This action moves arm 21 to contact with strip 28, breaking the circuit just described. When the operator turns the key to unlock the door, plate i5 contacts strip It. The circuit is then as follows:

From ground G, through battery B, conductor 30, strip I8, plate l5, strip 20, conductor 4|, arm 21, and strip 28, conductor 28a, uppermost magnet 2|, and ground 39; thus energizing the uppermost magnets and moving the parts to the position illustrated in Fig. 2. The result of this is not only to move the shoes 26 out of the path of the pawls, but to break the circuit by the movement of arm 21 away from strip 29. It is true that in this movement of the arm 21 contact is again madewith strip 29, but this strip is now included in a circuit which is open because plate l5 has been moved away from strip ll. In the present types of automobile doors, a door stop is employed which comprises a rod 42 that is hinged at 43 concentrically with the hinge of the door. This rod carries a head 44 which acts against a spring 45 and against a cross member 46 of a yoke I may use this structure as a means for carrying the electrical conducting wires through the door stop. This may be accomplished by making the rod 42 hollow. However, I recognize the fact that switches of many kinds have been employed for accomplishing this result, and it is to be understood that I contemplate the employment of any of these known devices in lieu of the arrangement described.

In the conventional type of lock to which this invention is applied, means are provided for actuating the main bolt 6 from the inside of the vehicle, these means comprising slotted links 48 connected at one end to the bolt 6 and at the other end to a crank arm 49 that may be actuated by handle 50 from the inside of the door. Further, the present type of lock comprises a rod 5| operable from inside the .car and by which arm l4 may be elevated in the same way that it can be elevated from the outside of the car by the key, and thus the occupant of the car may simultaneously look all the doors from the inside in the manner described.

One of the features inherent in the described structure is that if the lock of the master door is set to locked position when the door is open and then the door is closed with its operating handle at normal position, the doors will be automatically unlocked, but if the handle is held down when the door is closed, the doors will remain locked without the use of a key. One of the reasons for arranging these locks in such manner that if the door is slammed the door will be automatically unlocked, is to prevent the then the light will light to indicate that at least one of the doors has not been properly locked. The circuit to accomplish this is completed as follows: a

From ground G through battery B, conductors 30 and 3|, to one side of the bulb 32, thence through conductor 33, strip 23, arm 21, conductor 4|, strip 20, plate I! and strip l1 back todoors have the proper circuits through which failure of their locks to follow the lead of the master .lock results in the energizing of the bulb 32. Note that conductor 33 is connected by conductor 33 to strip 23 and that arm 21 of the uppermost lock set at the left-hand side of Fig. 2 is connected by a conductor 31a with the conductor ll.

Further, a conductor 33a leads from conductor 33 to the arm 29 of the upper right-hand lock set in Fig. 2 and that the arm 21 of this lock set is connected by an extension a with conductor 4|, it being understood that conductor ii in all cases establishes a connection to the ground 40 when the key controlled contact plate I! contacts with strip I1. This is the position in which all of the doors should be locked. In other words, it is the position in which all of the arms 21 should be moved toward the left and away from the contact strips 29.

If any one of these arms 21 fails to so move, then it means that that particular lock has not been locked, and by the very act of failing to move to locking position, it remains in circuitclosing position with respect to the signal 32. However, even when in such position, it would not energize the bulb until, by the manual operation of the key, plate I3 had been elevated to contact strip II.

In other words, we have in the circuit two circuit closing means, one a controlling means, i. e., the manually operable key, the other a controlled means, i. e., the arm 21, the latter being intended to normally follow the lead of the former. If it fails to follow the lead of the former, then it sets a circuit for the energization of a signal, but which circuit must be complementally completed by the act of moving the control member (the key) to the position at which the controlled member was supposed to follow it but did not.

The light is preferably located in the side panel of the master door, and may be covered by an ornamental escutcheon plate X and red transparent glass or celluloid Z to give a signal in the nature of a danger signal upon the failure of any of the locks to function.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the device is of general application in that it is not limited to the particular type of lock chosen for explanatory purposes. Therefore, I wish it to be understood that the invention is not Hunted, but that it includes within its purview whatever changes fairly come within either the terms or the spirit of the appended claims. is Having described my invention, what I claim 1. In an electrically controlled locking system, a main key controlled lock and a plurality of electromagnetically controlled auxiliary locks, said main lock and said auxiliary locks each having a movable locking member having a locking position and an unlocking position, a movable contact mounted for movement with said locking member, a locking contact mounted to be en aged by said movable contact at the'locking position of said member, an unlocking contact mounted to be engaged by said movable contact in the unlocking position of said member, means including said contacts of said main lock for locking and unlocking said auxiliary locks, an electric signal, circuits for said signal, and means for completing said circuits including the movable and locking contacts of said main lock, and the movable and unlocking contacts of said auxiliary locks to indicate the failure of any one of said auxiliary locking members to move to locking position.

2. In an electrically controlled locking system for a plurality of doors, a main key controlled member and a plurality of electromagnetically controlled auxiliary locks, said main member and said auxiliary locks each having a movable part, having a locking position and an unlocking position, a movable contact mounted for movement with said locking part, a locking contact mounted to be engaged by said movable contact at the locking position of said part, an unlocking contact mounted to be engaged by said movable contact in the unlocking position of said part, means including said contacts of said main member for locking and unlocking said auxiliary locks, an electric signal, circuits for said signal, and means for completing said circuits including the movable and locking contacts of said main member, and the movable and unlocking contacts of said auxiliary locks to indicate the failure of any one of said auxiliary locking parts to move to locking position. 

